Wishes for a Festive Mabon from my home to yours
Witches Thanksgiving is coming. Also known as Mabon (MAY-bn), or the Autumn Equinox. It is the second harvest. It’s a big one, too, for those living close to the land and growing food. Although I can harvest a little bit every day beginning about the full moon after the vernal equinox, each harvest sabbath (Lughnasah, Mabon, and Samhain) simply means new crops are coming in at each harvest. The first harvest is typically grain and berries. The second harvest is fruit and corn. And the third harvest is everything else, including squash (jack o’lantern pumpkins!), tomatoes, peppers, culling of the herds, etc.
If you’re wanting to have a gathering of your Witch sisters and brothers, this is a wonderful time to do so. So much food is in season. And the weather, at least here in the Pacific Northwest, is still nice enough to gather around a fire circle outside.
Most gathering of witches means potluck of some sort. There’s always the witch that will bring the wine and party favors, another who’s got the sweet treats covered, and another who brings the appetizers. If you’re hosting, the entree will fall to you, along with one or two sides or a salad, as well as making sure your space is welcoming. Maybe some post-meal concoction to sip by the fire whilst you tell stories of your year thus far. You decide how much you take on. Just don’t take on too much, please. Hosts as well as guests should be enjoying themselves. This is a celebration of our gratitude. Our connections are likely at the top of that giving-thanks list. Roast the stuffed turkey, but let everyone else do the rest. However, if you just love creating wonderful food for friends and family, do what you think you can handle without stressing.
Other things to make your Witches Thanksgiving festive are doing things like gourd candles (maybe make enough to allow your guests to take one home), corn dollies, or having the activity of making a scarecrow for the pumpkin patch or front gate, or pressing apples and pears into cider (as might be the case here at Villa Westwyk). Maybe one of your guests would like to do some divination for everyone for the season ahead. Or maybe you watch the new Halloween flick that was just released. Take your inspiration from the landscape around you, the energy of the group, and go forth and have lots of Witchy Fun.
Today I put together a Mabon menu to hopefully inspire, instruct, and initiate you into this upcoming season. Inspired by what’s growing here at Villa Westwyk or available nearby (e.g. sablefish), each category should have you covered no matter which part of the potluck you want to cover. As well, there’s a fire circle ritual to help you welcome in Autumn and prepare yourselves for winter.
First you need to set the mood: and that’s certainly good fun. Decorate your space. Many of my seasonal decorations are actually wards. (More on that here on the blog soon!) Refresh your altar for autumn. If you have a fire circle where you’ll be hosting the ritual, make sure there’s enough seating and table space for everyone. Make sure there’s blankets for everyone to stay comfortable. Again, if you’re hosting, ask your guests where they may like to help. A good guest will ask, as well.
The menu below is by no means the only menu for your Witches Thanksgiving. Again, take your inspiration from what is available to you and your kindred. This is just what will be on the menu at Villa Westwyk this year. Be sure you understand any food preferences and allergies from your guests before using this menu or creating your own.
Please note to access the links of these recipes, you’re going to need a passcode. It’s easy: Mabon2022
Villa Westwyk Mabon Menu:
Grilled Sunflower Head with Chimichurri sauce
Grilled Sablefish collars with garlic confit
Herb buttered grilled Winter Squash Rings
Chocolate Zucchini Bread with Whipped Cream and Brandied Cherry sauce
The Ritual
Gratitude is at the center of Thanksgiving. So the ritual is focused on that. And it’s focused on the fire element, which is necessary to help us survive the upcoming winter season.
Here’s what you’ll need for this activity:
A spot to gather around a fire
Candles or torches that mark the four directions
Small slips of paper and pens or pencils for each guest
A small altar with Autumnal decor
Cleansing herbs (rosemary, sage, mugwort, lavender, etc. – you choose your adventure here)
If you don’t have a fire pit available to you, feel free to gather around a table with a centerpiece of lots of candles. Plan on one candle representing each guest, so 7 guests = 7 candles. And please, for Freyja’s sake, please follow candle safety. You’ll also need a fire-proof container (cauldron).
This is a very casual ritual and more about pulling out the recognition of all the abundance in our lives – there’s more than you think. Doing this little exercise, if you’d prefer that word over ritual, helps you and your guests ground down in gratitude around the fire. I set up the tiki torches around the fire circle to mark the four directions ahead of time. If your tradition calls for casting a circle, feel free to do that. But it’s not necessary for this.
There’s a small altar, mostly hosting all the symbols of Autumn: squash, apples, colored leaves, anything that makes it festive for you. Perhaps offerings for the land spirits or your particular deities. For me it’s offerings to Skaði, the goddess of the Hunt (an autumn activity) and Winter and Tyr, the sky god. Appropriate because of the planetary movement of the equinox. As always, you do you, Witch.
In the center is the fire pit, which I’m sure the Viking will have made larger than necessary. Before going around the circle (sunwise, aka clockwise) some cleansing herbs are added to the fire. The host may do this, or everyone can take a little bit of the herbs and toss them into the fire. Again, candles and a cauldron around a patio table works well, too. Our warm, rainless summers these last 5 years or so here in the PNW means fire rituals often are simply tabletop affairs as fire bans for safety are necessary. All good. This is an opportunity for the host to thank their guests and invite them to consider what they are grateful for. To help your guests get in the mindset of expressing their gratitude, you may ask them to consider three things they are thankful for at Mabon.
Often I’ll ask them to consider their journey since last Autumn to highlight what abundance and blessings they’ve encountered, especially where their personal growth is concerned. What personal quality are you thankful for? What non-human thing are you thankful for? What other person are you thankful for? As the MC, really ask them to explore the why. Why are you grateful for your work ethic, for instance? “Well, Runa, it helped me finish X project before the equinox…” This is a conversation, to a degree. And a time of reflection. As one guest speaks to their gratitude, the others are invited to fire scry or just meditate on the flames.
After the gratitude expressions are complete, this is when your guests will put the one thing they want to leave behind as this new season begins. Starting clockwise again, have the person approach the fire (carefully) and toss their completed release note into the flame, saying “I release what does not serve me.” They do not have to say what the thing is that they are releasing. That is between them, the fire and, if appropriate, their gods. If one of your Witch guests wants to announce what they are releasing, that is fine, too.
End the ritual officially by offering blessings to your guests and again your gratitude for them in your life, for their contributions to the circle, etc. Close your circle here, if you so choose.
Afterwards, it is a great time to pull out a nightcap of some sort. This can be anything like some hot tea and honey, maybe hot cocoa, or here on our covenstead, it will likely be some Cassis (black currant liqueur) or apple cider that we brewed. Then simply hangout by the fire and visit with your kindred. Make plans for a winter gathering now during this conversation, if you like. Play guitar or ukulele. Sing acapella. Laugh. Connect.
Be sure to extinguish all flames before leaving the area. Practice good candle and fire safety. Because Samhain is coming and we want to be able to celebrate the Witches New Year together, too. Stay tuned as I’ll be offering the same kind of post for that Witches Sabbat as well.
How do you celebrate Mabon the Witches Thanksgiving? What of the above might you adopt for your celebration?
Chills! Loved every word. And thank you for giving me a reason to like Thanksgiving again, even if it’s not in November! Can’t wait for Mabon!